For Long-Term Unemployed, Help Is Running Out

[xchrom]

http://www.wbur.org/npr/150126242/for-long-term-unemployed-help-is-running-out

?t=1333733296&s=4
Job seekers line up to enter a career fair in Los Angeles. Both Congress and states are cutting back on unemployment benefits. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

Diane Turner can't find work. She spent 30 years managing dental practices in Sonoma County, north of San Francisco, but lost her last job in that field a couple of years ago.

She worked for a while greeting customers at an auto body shop, but lost that job a year ago. "It was very depressing," Turner says. "I always worked, and I was always able to get a job."

Having seen firsthand how competition for jobs is "absolutely fierce" — more than 200 applicants sometimes turn up even when part-time jobs are listed — Turner is not surprised to learn that the unemployment rate is slow to come down.

On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the economy gained a net total of 120,000 jobs in March, and that the unemployment rate declined to 8.2 percent.

[KG]

1. rec.

things still suck out there...

[CAPHAVOC]

4. Is it getting better or worse?

Seems like the few jobs there are more are after them. As people run out of unemployment they will all be after a job or starve. What a mess. Maybe QE3 will help for a while. Maybe unemployment should extend for 199 weeks. Or permanent. If there are no jobs. You can look all you want for a job that does not exist. You will not find it.

People are not going to vote in November on BC Pills or the Martin case. They are going to vote their wallets. It the Wallet is getting fatter, they will vote for Obama. If not, Romney.

[TheMastersNemesis]

2. Lazy Leeches To The GOP

That is all right with the GOP. They are nothing but a bunch of lazy druggy leeches sucking on the national "t-t".

[dkf]

3. Recessions are traditionally when small businesses start up.

The question is why it is necessary to be employed by someone else and what can we do to empower people to start their own business.

We need to be much more supportive of job creation at the most basic levels.

[nobodyspecial]

5. Providing access to health care is an excellent start.

I know this is an important issue for many who would like to venture out on their own.

[dkf]

7. Yes it would be huge.

That might even be a smarter way to get healthcare to the unemployed.

[99Forever]

6. At age 59..

... and having not been employed since 2008 (not thru lack of trying) I doubt that I'll ever find work again. Thanks for all of the help, Washington DC, you are a real fu**ing good example to the world.